Karpov Wins In Cap d'Agde Rapid

Anatoly Karpov added yet another tournament victory to his long list of triumphs by winning the Cap d'Agde rapid tournament which bears his name - the "Trophée Anatoly Karpov".

The chess festival in the French resort of Cap d'Agde took place from 26 October - 3 November. The main event featured 8 players in a double round robin contest, with the top four advancing to a KO stage.

Games were played at the rapid time control of 25 minutes plus 10 second increment.

The initial double round-robin ended with Vassily Ivanchuk and Anatoly Karpov topping the standings, and Ju Wenjun and Romain Edouard joining them for the KO stage.

2012 Cap d'Agde Round-Robin Standings

#

Name

Elo

Pts

1

Ivanchuk, Vassily

2771

11½

2

Karpov, Anatoly

2616

11½

3

Ju, Wenjun

2498

8½

4

Edouard, Romain

2664

7½

5

Sebag, Marie

2521

6½

6

Bauer, Christian

2664

6½

7

Milliet, Sophie

2421

2½

8

Goryachkina, Aleksandra

2384

1½

.

Ivanchuk beat Ju Wenjun 2-0 and Karpov beat Romain Edouard 1½-½ to make it to the final, and what a final it was!

Karpov struck first to take the lead, but Ivanchuk equalised in the second rapid game to take the contest to blitz tie-breaks at a time control of 3 minutes plus 2 second increment.

Ivanchuk looked to have made a crucial breakthrough when he won with the black pieces in the first blitz game, but Karpov pulled out a must-win victory with black in the next game to level the scores yet again.

Karpov then took the initiative by winning the third blitz game, but lost on time in the fourth! With no Armageddon game scheduled, the players just kept going! Game 5 was the first drawn game of the final, and finally Ivanchuk lost on time in the sixth game and Karpov was the champion 4½-3½!